How to dance in the rain

I was just reading an email from a fellow swing dancer.  His signature caught my eye.

Life isn’t about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain —Anon

And that brought a thousand memories to the front of my line of thought.  My recent post about rain was one of them.  Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ quote was another.

And that brings me to one of my pet peeves:  People saying  “I’m a survivor” or “He/She’s truly a survivor”.  But the truth is we are all survivors.   It’s in our genes.  Millions of years of evolution gave us the necessary tools to ensure we’ll survive whether we like it or not.  Ask any person that lived through a war.   Ask any person who was abused as a child.   No matter how many horrors we witness, we’ll protect our lives.  In fact, the more threatened we are, the less other things matter.   All we can think about is how to make it through.

Life is tough for everyone.  Sure, for some more than others.  There are millions, even billions of people that have been tortured, have watched their family being murdered, have been abused in many ways, and they are still alive.   We human beings will simply survive because the conservation instinct is so  primal, so strong, that only intense brain-washing can overcome it.

So, people WILL survive.  That is a fact.

So the issue here is not whether they will survive or not but whether they can dance in the rain after they have.

Have you ever seen a child being grumpy or even unhappy because it’s raining?  No.  For them, rain is just another opportunity to have fun.  To get wet and be happy.  TO DANCE!

Now, let’s not get too literal here.  I am not saying that you should all go out next time it rains and get all wet (however, I have to tell you, it is quite liberating).

The take home message  is that life is not fair for anyone.  We all have had our fair share -and then some, of suffering.  So stop being so worried about everything and remember how it was when you used to enjoy the simple pleasures.   When you were delighted by the beautiful colours of a butterfly.  Or the chirping of birds in the park.

The happiest people on earth are those who still can have fun dancing in the rain.

Look inside you.  Find it and re-kindle it.  And then, hang on to it for dear life.